YPD hands out more speeding tickets in 2013

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YAKIMA, Wash. -- Going after speeders. Yakima police did it in a big way last year. More than 2,000 tickets given to drivers moving too fast. You're more likely to get caught in some places more than others. KIMA dug up the records to find out where.

Before speeding down the hill along Nob Hill Boulevard, think twice. And, slow down. Chances are there's a police officer waiting to pull you over if you're going too fast.

It's where police officers wrote the most tickets in 2013. From the bottom of the hill to S. 1st Avenue. More than 300 cars, stopped.

Nathan Adreasen works nearby.

"Speed is going to pick up along this area just because the overpass is heading downhill. So, speed, you know, does pick up. This is mainly a business area, so I don't see it as being excessive speed."

But, YPD does. Here, and other places in Yakima.

Another spot is farther west along Nob Hill Boulevard, between 18th and 20th Avenues. YPD dished out more than a hundred tickets there.

Other common places: W. Lincoln Avenue and 31st Avenue, S. Fair Avenue near the fairgrounds, and along Summitview, between 25th and 28th Avenues.

Richardo Daniel lives on the corner of Summitview and 25th.

"When I'm downstairs in the basement, I can really feel it. I can feel the speed of the cars. I can actually...it'll make, like, a noise of how fast they're going. Like, doo-doop!"

Plenty of tickets were also handed out on Tieton Drive near 83rd Avenue. On E. Martin Luther King Boulevard and N. 9th Street, as well as 3rd Avenue, north of Division. S. 10th Avenue is another.

Though it may seem like it, these hot spots aren't random. YPD says behind their ticket program, there's a strategy.

"There's long stretches between stop lights and/or stop signs so it does tend to lead to people, you know, letting their speed get away from them when they're not paying attention," says Capt. Rod Light.

It's on those stretches, those straightaways, where YPD is focusing its efforts. The strategy seems to be working. Police caught about 500 more speeders in 2013 than in 2012.

Getting caught for speeding in Yakima can cost you anywhere from $90 up to $500.